Flotation of lithium aluminosilicate ores

ABSTRACT

Mineral concentrates are obtained from aluminosilicate and alkali and alkaline earth metal aluminosilicate, phosphate and fluoride ores in a beneficiation process in which the ore is conditioned prior to flotation with a C20 to C22 saturated or unsaturated fatty acid or a mixture of C20 to C22 saturated or unsaturated fatty acids and C18 or lower fatty acids.

United States Patent 1191 Knocke et al.

[4 1 Jan. 7, 1975 1 1 FLOTATION OF LITHIUM ALUMINOSILICATE ORES [75] Inventors: Louis C. Knocke, Shelby, NC;

William Novis Smith, Jr., Chester,

[21] Appl. No: 336,472

[52] US. Cl. 209/166 [51] Int. Cl B03d 1/02 [58] Field of Search 209/166, 167

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,912,433 6/1933 Crago 209/166 2,084,413 6/1937 Siems 2,126,292 8/1938 Tartalon 2,748,938 6/1956 Runge 3,028,008 4/1962 Browningm,

3,032,196 5/1962 Sollin 209/166 3,078,997 2/1963 Mavens 209/167 X 3,278,028 10/1966 Millpass 209/166 3,295,767 l/l967 Becker 209/160 3,353,072 11/1967 Solln 209/166 3,430,765 3/1969 Mercade 209/166 3,459,299 8/1969 Mencane 209/166 X OTHERPUBLICATIONS Chem. Abst. Vol. 71, 1969, 6330u. Chem. Abst. Vol. 73, 1971, 112000p.

Primary Examiner--Robert Halper Attorney, Agent, or Firm-I-Iowson and Howson [57] ABSTRACT Mineral concentrates are obtained from aluminosilicate and alkali and alkaline earth metal aluminosilicate, phosphate and fluoride ores in a beneficiation process in which the ore is conditioned prior to flotation with a C to C saturated or unsaturated fatty acid or a mixture of C to C saturated or unsaturated fatty acids and C or lower fatty acids.

4 Claims, N0 Drawings FLOTATION OF LITHIUM ALUMINOSILICATE ORES BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a beneficiation process in which minerals are concetrated by froth flotation utilizing a C to C saturated or unsaturated fatty acid or a mixture of C to C saturated or unsaturated fatty acids and C or lower fatty acids to condition the ore prior to flotation.

It is widely recognized that saturated and unsaturated fatty acids may be utilized in beneficiation processes to condition an ore pulp prior to flotation. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,028,008 describes a beneficiation process in which spodumene is isolated from mineralmixtures containing spodumene and beryllium. This process includes a flotation step which utilizes multicomponent collecting aids consisting of magnesium base lignin sulfonate, sodium fluoride and a fatty acid such as oleic acid to treat the mineral mixture prior to flotation. U.S. Pat. No. 3,329,265 describes a process for the beneficiation of mica ores by flotation which utilizes a combination of a cationic and an anionic reagent as flotation collecting aids, suitable anionic reagents being described as saturated or unsaturated fatty acids containing 8 to 20 carbon atoms or salts thereof. U.S. Pat. No. 3,278,028 also describes a beneficiation process utilizing saturated and unsaturated fatty acids containing 8 to 20 carbon atoms or salts thereof as collecting aids for the flotation of mica ores. U.S. Pat. No. 2,974,884 describes a beneficiation process for recovering lithium from lithium aluminosilicate ores utilizing tall oil fatty acids and methyl isobutylcarbinol to condition the ore prior to flotation.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,459,299 describes a process for obtaining high purity talc concentrates in which fatty acid alkanolamides obtained by condensing higher unsaturated fatty acids containing 14 to 22 carbon atoms with a diethanolamine are utilized as flotation aids. U.S. Pat. No. 1,902,839 describes a froth flotation procedure utilized to concentrate minerals in which an unsaturated C, to C fatty acid is combined with a thiophosphoric acid to condition the ore prior to froth flotation.

It is the object of this invention to provide collecting aids useful in conditioning ores prior to froth flotation in a beneficiation process which produces mineral concentrates from aluminosilicate and alkali and alkaline earth metal aluminosilicate, phosphate and fluoride ores.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a beneficiation process including a froth flotation procedure in which a ground ore is conditioned prior to flotation with from about 0.25 to about 4 lbs. per ton of ore of a collecting aid selected from the group consisting of a fatty acid containing 20 to 22 carbon atoms and a mixture of fatty acids containing from about 15% to about 75% of a fatty acid containing 20 to 22 carbon atoms, balance C or lower fatty acids, said percentages being by weight, based on the weight of the fatty acid mixture, to provide a mineral concentrate from an ore selected from the group consisting of aluminosilicate and alkali and alkaline earth metal aluminosilicate, phosphate and fluoride ores.

It has now been found that fatty acids having 20 to 22 carbon atoms per molecule are extremely efficient collecting aids when utilized to condition ores prior to froth flotation. Erucic acid, a C unsaturated fatty acid, is the preferred collecting aid of this invention. Other C to C fatty acids, both saturated and unsaturated, useful as collecting aids in this process include arachidic, n-heneicosoic, behenic, gadoleic, cetoleic, and brassidic acids. As will be recognized, mixtures of two or more of these acids in any proportion may be utilized as the collecting aids in this invention, although, commonly a single acid is utilized.

While the C to C fatty acids have been found to be particularly useful as collection aids in flotation procedures, it has been found that certain mixtures of the C to C fatty acids with C or lower fatty acids, particularly those mixtures containing from about 15% to about of a fatty acid containing 20 to 22 carbon atoms, balance C or lower fatty acids, said percentage being by weight, based on the weight of the fatty acid mixture are likewise useful collecting aids. Useful C or lower fatty acids which may be utilized in forming the collecting aid mixtures include tall oil fatty acids, oleic acid, stearic acid, palmetic acid, and the like. The collecting aid mixtures, referred to generally herein as the fatty acid collecting aid, are formed in any conventional manner such as combining the desired fatty acids with mixing until a uniform product is obtained.

In general, the beneficiation process of this invention includes a conventional froth flotation procedure in which an ore is first ground to a reduced particle size and introduced into a flotation cell where the fatty acid collecting aids of this invention are added to treat the ore prior to introduction of air into the flotation cell. While not always required, certain ores may be deslimed after the grinding procedure, the pulp recovered from the desliming operation being passed to the flotation cell for treatment with the collecting aid.

The ground ore is introduced into the flotation cell in the form of a slurry, the slurry containing the ore particles at levels ranging from about 5 to about 40% solids. The fatty acid collecting aid is combined with the ore slurry in a proportion of from about 0.25 to about 4 lbs. per ton of ore (based on the ore in the slurry). The ore is conditioned with the fatty acid collecting aid for a period of time ranging from a few minutes up to as long as an hour. No special conditions are required for the fatty acid conditioning, however, should it be desired, the ore and collecting aid may be heated to temperatures up to as high as C. during the conditioning period. Optimum quantities of the collecting aid, length of conditioning and other parameters of the conditioning procedure are best determined empirically and will vary considerably depending on the type and amount of ore treated as well as the type of mineral concentrate desired.

The fatty acid collecting aids have been found to be especially useful in a beneficiation process designed to recover ceramic grade spodumene, spodumene containing not less than 6.6% U 0 and less and 0.9% Fe O from lithium aluminosilicate ores. In this process, the lithium aluminosilicate ore is ground, deslimed and transferred in a slurry containing from 5 to 40%, by weight, solids, to a flotation cell and treated with the fatty acid collecting aid. The collecting aid is combined with the ore pulp in a proportion of from about 0.25 to about 4 lbs. per ton of ore (based on the ore in the slurry), followed by introduction of air into the cell which causes the particles of the desired spodumene to float to the surface of the cell in the form of a froth which is collected and further treated to recover the desired ceramic grade spodumene. Beneficiation processes including a flotation procedure which utilizes merating the weight recory of spodumene concentrate, the amount of spodumene recovered in terms of Li O, the purity of the spodumene concentrate recovered, (expressed in terms of Li O content) and the weight rethe collecting aids described herein have been found to 5 covery of spodumene expressed as recovery of ilbe particularly desirable, resulting in the recovery of a ble +50 me h spodumene.

TABLE I Collecting Aid Feed Spodumene Concentrate Recovered Tall Oil %Li O %+50 Weight Li O Spodumene Recovery of Avail- Sample *Fatty Erucic Con- Mesh Recov- Re- Concentrate able +50 Mesh No. Acid Acid" tent Parered covery% Li O Spodumene ticles l l 0 3.01 25.5 23 76.6 6.42 27.6 2 80 20 2.87 24.6 23.3 77.9 6.27 29.5 3 60 40 3.02 23.4 24.7 79.1 6.61 44.7 4 40 60 3.05 27.1 23.9 77.7 6.73 40.9 5 80 2.89 26.5 21.4 74.6 6.72 37.4 6 0 100 2.75 24.1 [5.8 65.7 7.ll 32.l

Tall oil fatty acid analyzing, 6% Rosin acid. 94% fatty acids; the fatty acids being, 89% conjugated linoleic acid, 36T linoleic acid, 52%

oleic acid, 4% saturated acid.

"Erucic acid analyzing, 88% C-22 unsaturated Erucic acid, l0% C-20 unsaturated arachidcnic acid, 2% C-l8 acid. oleic acid spodumene concentrate in which the predominant portion, at least 75%, or more, by weight, based on the weight of the concentrate recovered, is ceramic grade EXAMPLE 1 A series of lithium aluminosilicate ore samples were ground to a particle size of 28 mesh be down, deslimed in a hydrocyclone, conditioned with a collecting aid for 30 minutes and fed in the form of a slurry of about 35% solids into a flotation cell where the desired components of the ore were isolated and recovered in the froth formed with the introduction of air into the flotation cell. In Table I, which follows below, the ore samples subjected to froth flotation are characterized by the particle size and U 0 content of the ore, this characterization being found in the column headed Feed in Table I. The collecting aid utilized to treat the ore slurry prior to flotation was combined with the ore in a proportion of 1.4 lbs. per ton of ore, based on the ore in the feed slurry, the collecting aids utilized being identified in Table I. The spodumene recovered in this manner is characterized in Table l in the columns enu- Having thus described the invention, what is claimed 1. In a beneficiation process including froth flotation of ground lithium aluminosilicate ores to provide a lithium aluminosilicate mineral concentrate, the improvement consisting essentially of conditioning said ore prior to flotation with from about 0.25 to about 4 lbs. per ton of ore based on the ore being treated, of a collecting aid consisting essentially of a member selected from the group consisting of a fatty acid containing 20 to 22 carbon atoms and a mixture of fatty acids containing from about 15 to about of a fatty acid containing 20 to 22 carbon atoms, balance C or lower fatty acids, said percentage being by weight, based on the weight of the fatty acid mixture.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein said collecting aid is a fatty acid containing 20 to 22 carbon atoms, said fatty acid being a member of the group consisting of saturated fatty acids, unsaturated fatty acids or mixtures of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in any proportion.

3. The process of claim 1 wherein said fatty acid is erucic acid.

4. The process of claim 1 wherein said collecting aid is a mixture of fatty acids containing from about 15% to about 75% of a fatty acid containing 20 to 22 carbon atoms, balance C or lower fatty acids, said percentages being by weight based on the weight of the fatty acid mixture. 

1. IN A BENEFICIATION PROCESS INCLUDING FROTH FLOTATION OF GROUND LITHIUM ALUMINOSILICATE ORES TO PROVIDE A LITHIUM ALUMINOSILICATE MINERAL CONCENTRATE, THE IMPROVEMENT CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF CONDITIONING SAID ORE PRIOR TO FLOTATION WITH FROM ABOUT 0.25 TO ABOUT 4 LBS. PER TON OF ORE BASED ON THE ORE BEING TREATED, OF A COLLECTING AID CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF A MEMBER SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF A FATTY ACID CONTAINING 20 TO 22 CARBON ATOMS AND A MIXTURE OF FATTY ACIDS CONTAINING FROM ABOUT 15 TO ABOUT 75% OF A FATTY ACID CONTAINING 20 TO 22 CARBON ATOMS, BALANCE C18 OR LOWER FATTY ACIDS, SAID PERCENTAGE BEING BY WEIGHT, BASED ON THE WEIGHT OF THE FATTY ACID MIXTURE.
 2. The process of claim 1 wherein said collecting aid is a fatty acid containing 20 to 22 carbon atoms, said fatty acid being a member of the group consisting of saturated fatty acids, unsaturated fatty acids or mixtures of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in any proportion.
 3. The process of claim 1 wherein said fatty acid is erucic acid.
 4. The process of claim 1 wherein said collecting aid is a mixture of fatty acids containing from about 15% to about 75% of a fatty acid containing 20 to 22 carbon atoms, balance C18 or lower fatty acids, said percentages being by weight based on the weight of the fatty acid mixture. 